The Russian Oligarchs

Russian oligarchs (Wikipedia)

There has been a lot of talk about Russian oligarchs lately. Most of it negative. Most if it about the way they made their billions. During his State of the Union address, President Biden  promised to go after these oligarchs and their ‘ill gotten gains’.

Are Russian oligarchs evil? Are they crooks? Are they unethical? It would seem that they are all of the above and more based on how they have been characterized by the media and politicians worldwide. Or is this just the typical liberal/left  attack against people with great wealth – in the assumption that anyone with that kind of money must have gotten it illegally or unethically?

Wikipedia defines Russian oligarchs as follows: 

Russian oligarchs are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth during the era of Russian privatization in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. The failing Soviet state left the ownership of state assets contested, which allowed for informal deals with former USSR officials (mostly in Russia and Ukraine) as a means to acquire state property.

Now I have no issue with great wealth as long as it was achieved honestly.  One of the great things about this country is that great wealth does not discriminate. There are many Americans who became billionaires irrespective of race, religion, creed, or national origin. Anyone can achieve great wealth with a good idea, the willingness to take on risk, a lot of hard work, perseverance, and a little bit of luck.

What about these Russian oligarchs? Was what they did legal? Was it ethical?  Did they simply use an opportunity to gain wealth very quickly as a benefit of the Soviet collapse? Is that ethical even if it is legal?

It is surely opportunistic. But I’m not sure it is entirely unethical as long as they didn't cheat anyone in the process. If on the other hand they did do anything illegal or were in any way unethical, then their billions are indeed ‘ill gotten gains’ and they deserve the contempt the President expressed for them last week. Especially if they are in any way using that money to fund Putin’s war against the Ukraine. Then they would be guilty of assisting Putin (who is himself worth billions) in the slaughter of hundreds if not thousands of innocent civilians and other assorted war crimes.

That being said, I have no clue if they are guilty of that or not. I do, however, know that some of them have used their great wealth to help out Ukrainian refugees. From the Times of Israel:

Jewish communities in Ukraine received a $10 million gift from a perhaps unlikely source Monday: a charitable organization founded by three Russian Jewish oligarchs who are being accused of having supported the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The donation is small for the three billionaires behind Genesis Philanthropy Group — Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan — who are together worth $21 billion.

Here’s the problem. As this story indicates - many  Russian oligarchs  are Jewish. (About half?) Fridman, Aven, and Khan are not the only Jews on that list. Other oligarchs have names like Abramovich, Berezovsky, Gusinsky, Khodorkovsky, Smolensky, and Malkin.   

This list can easily become a source for antisemitism if it isn’t already. Here we go again with ‘Jewish money’ and ‘Jewish greed’.  Does that mean we shouldn’t criticize them it they are in any way connected with Putin’s war?  

For me the answer is simple. If they are ‘guilty as charged’ they deserve to be criticized.  It is a Chilul HaShem if we don’t! We ought to be the first and loudest to do so. Being Jewish does not protect anyone from legitimate criticism. Some of the most infamous criminals and murderers of the 20^th century were Jews. We have a moral obligation to call them out as Jews that have abandoned their heritage and their faith. And are thus no better than any other common criminal. 

The only question here is whether these oligarchs qualify. In my mind that question remains unresolved. I am just sorry that they are all being cast into the same nefarious barrel by world  leaders starting with our own President.

By referring to the wealth of Russian oligarchs as ‘ill gotten gains’ that are funding Putin’s war the President is unwittingly opening the door to increased antisemitism.  And I’m just not so sure he’s right about that - as the abovementioned 3 Jewish oligarchs that have distributed 10 million dollars to Jewish communities in the Ukraine - demonstrates. 

World leaders must be careful with their words lest they cause unwitting collateral damage.Which might be the case here. If anything can be learned from the Trump Presidency, that is it!